HART Team: Meeting People, Changing Lives

The City of West Palm Beach has an active, 10-person Homeless Advocacy and Response Team (HART) that meets with homeless community members on a daily basis. Our compassionate HART team members counsel, and offer guidance and options for services, including housing, employment and referrals for medical or mental health services within the immediate area.

As part of the City’s expanding efforts to serve this vulnerable population, the HART team relocated to the new Eva W. Mack Center on Australian Avenue in January 2024. The move’s success is evident. In the first month, 145 homeless and vulnerable residents visited the center seeking assistance.

City-wide in February 2024, the HART team, working with Gulfstream Goodwill and the Palm Beach County Coordinated Entry program, placed 33 individuals in long-term housing. In Fiscal Year 2023, the City placed 246 chronically homeless in housing or shelters. Despite their best efforts, the HART team realizes they cannot help everyone. Sixteen homeless living on West Palm Beach streets refused services from the HART team in February; 119 declined assistance or services in FY 2023.

Should you see someone in need of assistance, please visit our Homeless Activity Reporter link and provide us with information that may help this person.

To learn more about the efforts the City is making to assist homeless members of the community, please listen to our podcast, or view a couple of the success stories below.

Helping the Homeless: Understanding the Challenges

Part 1 of 3

Trying to help those who are homeless is a challenge for every community in America. West Palm Beach is no exception. In this, the first of a three-part podcast series, we explore the challenges communities face and learn about our city’s effort to truly help those who don’t have a home.  Listen in with Allie Severino, Social Services Supervisor for the City of West Palm Beach.

Part 2 of 3

The problems and challenges faced by those who are homeless are complex. In this, the second part of our series on homelessness, we will look at what can be done to truly help, give effective relief to those on the street, and consider actions residents can take to truly help those in need.  With Allie Severino, Social Services Supervisor for the City of West Palm Beach.

Part 3 of 3

The emotionally charged effort to help those who are homeless is the subject of many half-truths, myths, and misconceptions. In this, the third of a three-part series on homelessness, we talk to Social Services Supervisor Allie Severino about the top five misconceptions she hears every day on the streets of West Palm Beach.

Our HART Team in Action